News

King Salman chairs Cabinet Session (5/16/2016)

May 16, 2016

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah today.

King Salman began the session by briefing the Cabinet on his communications with King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He also briefed them on his meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Commander of US Central Command General Joseph Votel.

The Cabinet confirmed the Kingdom's continuing policy to achieve international peace and security, solving conflicts by peaceful means and respect human rights, reiterating what was expressed by the Kingdom at the high-level discussion session of the United Nations titled "International peace and security in a world of risks: a new commitment towards peace ".

The Kingdom confirmed that it would exert maximum effort to work collectively with international organizations and member states that believe in the collective action in order to achieve the good for all humanity.

The Cabinet was briefed on what took place at the meeting with officials responsible for the affairs of Hajj of Iran on the discussion of the arrangements and requirements of Iranian pilgrims affairs like other pilgrims from various countries around the world, during which the Iranian delegation refused to sign the minutes of the agreement to complete arrangements for their pilgrims. The Cabinet noted that the decision to prevent Iranian citizens from coming to perform Hajj rites was due to Iranian officials.

The Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's confirmation that it welcomes and is honored in serving pilgrims, Umrah performers and visitors of all nationalities and it does not prevent any Muslim from coming to the holy lands.

The Cabinet appreciated the accelerating development of the march of relief and humanitarian relief works in the Kingdom during the last period making it on the top of donor countries of humanitarian and developmental aid. It noted that development assistance provided by the Kingdom from 2005 to 2014 was the rate of 9.1 percent of the Kingdom’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Cabinet concluded its session after discussing a number of domestic topics and adopted the number of decisions, including: recommendations of the Standing Committee of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development to provide free milk to medically needy infants to the age of 24 months and include the requirement in the health insurance policy coverage; authorized the Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, or his deputy, to discuss with China a draft agreement regarding the formation of high-level joint committee, sign it, and forward the final version to complete the legal procedures; authorized the Minister of Labor and Social Development, or his deputy, to discuss with Korea a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the areas of labor, sign it, and forward the final version to complete the legal procedures; and authorized the Minister of Education, or his deputy, to discuss with Belarus a draft memorandum for scientific and educational cooperation, sign it, and forward the final version to complete the legal procedures.

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The Embassy of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20037